Trial by television was with us again at the Bay Hill Classic on Thursday. No Patrick Reed this time but rather the squeaky-clean Justin Rose. Rose had a tricky chip from the back of the 11th which he ran some 10 feet past the pin but did he move the ball at address?
Ok as nobody else seems to be doing it, I am going to come out and defend the seemingly indefensible, or at the very worst add a bit of perspective. Hank Hainey made a pretty unwise statement and was clearly mistaken in taking what might be described as ‘locker room humour’ to the airways. But, was he being ‘racist, xenophobic, and sexist’ as stated by the PGA Tour’s lawyers?
Our Bryson may not quite be ripping it up on the golf course but word has got to us that he made the Sports Illustrated Top 50 Most Fit Athletes. Quite excited to learn who had made this Top 50 ( 25 men and 25 women) we were somewhat disappointed to find the definition of ‘fit’ not quite matching GolfPunk’s.
Pete Dye, designer of some of the world’s most famous golf courses, has died in the Dominican Republic at age 94. His family announced his sad passing on social media: “It is with much sadness that we announce our leader, mentor and hero Pete Dye passed this morning at the age of 94. Pete made an indelible mark on the world of golf that will never be forgotten. We will all miss him dearly.”
Ping has signed up Eddie Pepperell on a multi-year equipment deal. Eddie will be all Pinged up , as it were, as he will be wearing a Pink hat and carry a Ping staff bag as well as playing the clubs. It seems Eddie’s antics on Twitter also endeared him to the bosses at Ping and once again he amused his audience with an offer to Prince Harry.
The European Tour has a real headache on its hands following Iran’s recent threats to "destroy" parts of the United Arab Emirates if there is retaliation after the attacks they launched on Iraq in reprisal for the US killing of Qassem Soleimani.
2019 is behind of us but it was not a great display by some who let down our great game and so have been inducted into the GolfPunk Hall of Shame. So which five golfers find themselves with the unwanted invite?
There were lots of hugs and high fives as Team USA fought back from a 10-8 deficit to win the Presidents Cup, once again, by a score of 16-14. That huge smile we saw after Wood’s victory at Augusta was back and the there was obvious emotion in the US Captain’s voice when talking after his team’s victory.
The haggis has been piped in, the Solheim tartan is out in force and the smiles are out, for the meoment. Countdown to the Solheim Cup has begun and may the best team win. This year, of the twenty four players taking part nine of them are rookies, three on Team Europe side and a record six joining Team USA.
The GolfPunk team love the game of golf and are big supporters of the idea of improving the etiquette on the course and in general. However, this week the big news running around social media was about the US amateur golfer that carded an impressively poor 194 for 18 holes and things got worse when the Florida State Golf Association confirmed it was actually a 131 over par 202!
Jordan Spieth is very much making the headlines at Pebble Beach. An eventful second round sees him 1 under par overall after making seven birdies and five bogeys and apparently learning a lesson from Thursday by acknowledging that he is the one making the shots!
Jordan Spieth was having a decent round yesterday. Level par for the first seven holes and all was well with the world, until the par four 8th. On a hole that requires precision and tidy positioning off the tee, Speith’s tee shot hit the fairway but then rolled too far, ran out of runway and dropped over the cliff edge.
